How Missouri Tigers’ Dennis Gates plans to run his first high major basketball program
A young Dennis Gates often used to sit for countless hours in front of the television, eyes glued on the Chicago Bulls.
The dynasty in the making with Michael Jordan, Scottie Pippen and Dennis Rodman had every kid in Chicago going nuts, but the interest for Gates was deeper. He’d have a notepad in his hand as he carefully observed the triangle offense crafted by Phil Jackson and Tex Winter, jotting down the exact spot where Jordan released his shot each time one went up.
“I didn’t realize I was practicing analytics, I had no clue. But I was trying to memorize those moments,” Gates told The Star. “That helps me in timeouts now, because I can watch a play in real time and draw that entire play without hesitation.”
He used to try and guess the NBA Draft order each year too, learning how to evaluate players without even realizing he was doing it.
The way Gates sees it, he’s been preparing to be a head coach of a high major college program for as long as he can remember. Some ways were obvious, like his eight seasons as an assistant under Leonard Hamilton at Florida State or the past three leading his own team at Cleveland State. Others, like all those hours he spent fixated on the tiny details of the game simply for his own amusement, weren’t. They all infuse together into why he’s so confident in his ability to lead the Missouri Tigers, and the approach he’ll take in doing so.
“When I say full circle in preparation, it comes in a direct and indirect way,” Gates said. “I’m just thankful for my environment and the people that were in it.”
Gates started an official coaching notebook of sorts at 18 years old, when he began his collegiate playing career at California under Ben Braun. He’d write pages and pages of notes, and at the end of every season he’d flip through those and determine what he needed to do to improve.
“I’ve done that every step of the way,” Gates said. “I’ve always put my unique spin on what we do.”
He wasn’t afraid to declare his goals of becoming a head coach to his mentors — Braun among them, along with Hamilton and George Raveling. Those were some of the people he thanked during his introductory press conference on Tuesday, explaining how 20 years ago he told them he wanted to be just like them.
Gates wants his players to be able to similarly share their dreams and aspirations with him, whatever they may be. He stressed the importance of listening to young people and allowing them to feel heard. As such, that’s exactly how he kicked things off with the current players on the Tigers’ roster on Tuesday morning.
He first shared his vision for the Missouri program and the eight core values he wants to instill: friendship, love, accountability, trust, discipline, unselfishness, enthusiasm and toughness. He gave some details on his background and tried to throw in a joke, asking the players if they had Googled him. But then he opened the floor up to them, allowing them to ask him anything they wanted.
“I wanted those guys to be able to control the environment,” Gates said, “because too often as adults, we don’t listen to young people in those traumatic stages. … We have to pay attention to it. We have to listen. We have to open our hearts, open our ears, and I just wanted to listen.”
Gates said it’s important to break down barriers with players and let them know that they he’s there for them. That leads to genuine relationships and greater effort on the court. He applies those values both in coaching his teams throughout a season and on the recruiting trail.
Recruiting and player development has been a focal point for Gates throughout his career. He led the charge for a lot of Florida State’s efforts in that regard, including landing the likes of Jonathan Isaac, Mfiondu Kabengele, Dwayne Bacon, Malik Beasley and Terance Mann. Though most of that group were four and five stars, Kabengele was far from a highly touted recruit in the 2016 class, with only one scholarship offer from Binghamton at the time; but Gates saw something in him.
Carrying over that recruiting prowess to Mizzou, with an emphasis on name, image and likeness that was missing under Cuonzo Martin, will be critical.
“We have to have our recruiting base be international, not even just national,” Gates said, “because there are young men at every corner of this country and the world that can help this program, help us play this style — an exciting style, where fast paced offense meets fast-paced pressure defense. … But we have to put up a fence around our state.”
For now, it remains who will be by Gates’ side in doing so. He didn’t share any information on who he planned to hire as assistant coaches, stating that he didn’t want “to put them in any compromising situations publicly or even with their fan bases or anything else.”
Given how much of his career he’s mapped out already, it’s safe to say that Gates has a plan in mind for that, though, among countless other tiny details of who the Mizzou Tigers will be in the years to come. He’s had his eyes set on leading a major program for as long as he can remember; now is his opportunity to do so.
This story was originally published March 23, 2022 at 5:00 AM.
